Not that it
matters any longer, but a Council is deliberative body
that discusses then decides stuff, a Counsel is a source
of advice and a Consul is a nation's representative. The
congress is supposed to be a Council. Robert Swan
Mueller III is a Counsel. And Japan has a Consul in
Nashville. One way to remember it goes this way: if you
want advice and a broader opinion you don't just make it
up as you go along, you consult a counsel, if you want
to quarrel and get grumpy you go to a Council and if you
want a visa to visit a foreign land you go to a Consul.

The other
thing to recall is that your correspondent is an
appalling speller. Grey, Gray, traveler, traveller,
whether, weather, seal, ceil, and it just goes on into
the wild blue yonder of i before e except after c and
whole bunch of things that have been forced upon us by
those obsessed by precision in the use of a shared
written language. And then there's the idea that not
being able to spell is symptomatic of careless, ill
discipline mental habits characteristic of those in our
number who might not be the sharpest knife in the
drawer. Oddly in the arena of Counsels and Consuls
precision is advantageous. But when it comes to Councils
it's more like a blood sport where pretty much anything
goes.